The relationship between industrial restructuring and China's regional haze pollution: A spatial spillover perspective

Abstract

Abstract The haze phenomenon in China is becoming increasingly severe. Although some meteorological factors contribute to this phenomenon, it is ultimately linked to economic factors such as the extensive development and the unbalanced industrial structure. By using a semi-parametric global vector autoregressive model (SGVAR) and the environmental Kuznets curve, this study takes a spatial correlation perspective to investigate the influence of industrial restructuring on haze pollution and its spatial spillover effects. The empirical analysis is based on China's provincial quarterly panel data between 2001 and 2010. The results show that (1) spatial spillover characterizes China's haze pollution. That is, haze pollution in one area will aggravate haze pollution in surrounding areas; the industrial structure, dominated by heavy industry, will exacerbate haze pollution and further aggravate its spatial spillover. (2) At the regional level, the air pollution spillover effect in eastern China is stronger than that in the central and western (backward) areas. (3) There is an approximate inverse-U-shaped relationship between haze pollution and economic growth in most provinces, except Beijing and Shanghai, where haze pollution is still expected to intensify with economic growth. Therefore, in the formulation of haze pollution control policies, full consideration must be given to the impact of spatial factors, not only to promote the transfer of industrial structures in the eastern region but also to strengthen the promotion and coordination between provinces and regions and, ultimately, control pollution.